Theatre

Joe Vogel on November 10, 2023 at 12:21 am

Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer lists only one movie theater (the Lyric) and the opera house (Brunskill Opera House, David Brunskill, propr.) at Hawarden. Items in theater industry trade journals indicate that Lyric was a new name for the Hawarden Theatre, but not until early 1915, so I don’t know how it got named in the 1914 Gazetteer.

This house at 906 Central might not have opened until after the 1914 Gazetteer went to press, so didn’t get listed that year, but this might be the house called the Electric Theatre that was listed (along with the Lyric) in the 1918 Gazetteer. An Electric Theatre was listed in the 1912 Gazetteer, but as it wasn’t listed in 1914 it must have been a different house. Perhaps it was an earlier name for the Hawarden/Lyric Theatre.